Amid residents' concerns about recent sexual assaults in and outside of school walls, Superintendent Stacy Scott on Monday night announced a variety of new efforts the district is making to improve culture and communication at the schools, led by the formation of a system-wide crisis response team.

Amid residents' concerns about recent sexual assaults in and outside of school walls, Superintendent Stacy Scott on Monday night announced a variety of new efforts the district is making to improve culture and communication at the schools, led by the formation of a system-wide crisis response team.

Scott called the two sexual assaults allegedly perpetrated by a male student against two younger female classmates at the high school last year a "turning point" for the district, one that "should cause us to look deeply into our values, and look deeply into our behaviors."

The superintendent's aim, which he described during a lengthy report early in Monday night's school board meeting, is to review and, if necessary, update the schools' policies, procedures and curriculum surrounding student wellness, particularly sexual abuse and harassment. Leading that initiative is a new panel Scott has dubbed the "community school response team," which his administration created with support and resources from the local domestic violence prevention group Voices Against Violence, the Framingham Police, Middlesex District Attorney's Office, and the Office for Civil Rights.

Chaired by district health director Judith Styer and student support services director Anna Carollo Cross, the group will be responsible for reviewing the ways in which a range of health issues are handled at the schools and communicated to the public, and making recommendations to the school committee.

In addition, Scott said his administration is in the process of expanding the district's wellness plan to focus on "creating supportive environments," a step that may require him to add more staff in the area of health and wellness. The superintendent is also in talks with the Framingham Police to create training programs for school employees so they can conduct their own investigations within the system.

Scott said last week's report of a sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl at a bus stop on Gorman Road was a "good test for us," as far as letting students and families know about how the district was responding to the incident. Framingham held a school-wide assembly Thursday to address the assault, which did not involve a student in the town's public schools. Framingham Police reported making an arrest in that case late Monday.

The district, and the high school in particular, had come under fire the last two weeks for what some parents and students perceived to be officials' inadequate response to the two reported sexual assaults last year. Far fewer people were at Monday night's meeting compared to recent sessions, but at least one person who come said she was still unsatisfied with the district's explanation for what led to the alleged assailant only being suspended for five days as punishment.

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"What happened is just not acceptable, and it's also against the law," said Corinne Tosti, who told the board that high school Principal Mike Welch "needs to be retrained and needs oversight while he's still in the position - he's let a lot of people down."

Welch has defended his handling of the incidents, one of which Middlesex DA Gerry Leone's office investigated but did not file charges.

In his report, Scott did not mention any repercussions for staff involved in last year's handling of the assaults, instead focusing on what the district needs to do to "move forward." He acknowledged, however, that there might have been a culture at the schools that led some students and staff to feel as though they couldn't or shouldn't comfortably share their concerns or thoughts with administrators.

"I believe our challenge is to build trust," he said, as well as create a "variety of mechanisms ... to talk, to have those difficult conversations we need to have."

Scott O'Connell can be reached at 508-626-4449 or soconnell@wickedlocal.com